Free trade in Negroes.Source: Foreign and Commonwealth Office Collection, (1849)Published by: The University of Manchester, The John Rylands University LibraryStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/60236674 .
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FREE TRADE
IN
NEGROES.
NOT PUBLISHED
APRIL, 1849.
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<N*
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FREE TRADE
IN
NE GROE S.
The extinction of the Slave Trade would
unquestionably be an event productive of the
greatest advantages to Great Britain. The
lawful commerce with Africa which has made
such surprizing progress during late years,
would increase in a yet more rapid ratio, and
might be expected in a short time to become
of the highest value and importance; the West
India Colonies, at present sinking from the ad¬
vantage which Slave labour even now derives
from Slave Trade, would be saved from destruc¬
tion. These important interests are obviously
intimately connected with, and to a large extent dependent on the course which may be
adopted with respect to the Slave Trade. For
if that traffic be suffered to rage without check
or limit, if our present policy be reversed and
the squadron withdrawn, all who examine the
question without prejudice will acknowledge that the cultivation of the West Indian Colo¬
nies^ and the lawful Commerce with Africa
must both perish; the former because compe- B
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tition against the present importation of Slaves
quadrupled, would be hopeless; the latter, because confidence and security are essential to
the raising of produce by native industry, and
an unlimited Slave Trade would spread over
every part of the African coast universal habits
of plunder, violence, and bloodshed.
But the movement directed against the
Squadron, numbers among its supporters some
West Indian proprietors, who demand that a
part of the expense thus saved shall be applied to African Emigration. The fact is however
established, that no large_jiuniberof_Africans can be obtamed unless by enterm^jUie_Slaye Markets_on the coag^against the Foreign_Slaye Traders. Thus England would again become an
accomplice in the Slave Trade, she would be
responsible for all the horrors which an un¬
limited Slave Trade must spread over Africa, and would be justly obnoxious to the charge of
sacrificing the great principle she has so long
defended, for the basest and most sordid mo¬
tives of self interest. But though taught almost
to despair of extirpating the heinous traffic,
public feeling regards the crime with unmiti¬
gated abhorrence, and those who imagine that
any such advantage will accrue to themselves
if the squadron should be withdrawn will be
disappointed, and have reason when it is too
late, bitterly to repent their error.
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Great Britain has repudiated differential
duties on Free Trade principles; she prohibits her own subjects from the crime of Slave Trade;
she stands pledged to suppress it, and is armed
by the only nations which still encourage
it, with ample powers for the purpose. The
redemption of that pledge, the full exercise of
those powers,_may be demanded by the West_ Indian bodywith irresistible force and justice^ and this jgven on Free Trade principles. It is
their last and only remaining hope; but if
England, honest and true to her former prin¬
ciples should fulfil her duty, they are saved.
Those countries which in defiance of the law
of nations violate their compacts and continue
the Slave Trade, are the very rivals which
threaten the Colonies with destruction—and it
is this traffic that constitutes their sole advan¬
tage. But at this supreme moment when
their existence turns on the vigorous exercise
of the incontestable rights which England 1
possesses, the West India proprietors divided and N
despairing fail to urge this righteous claim, and X ^
those who do not madly join in the agitation £ which must consummate their ruin if it should cC:
succeed, remain at least passive and con- ^
senting. ,J If all check on the Slave Trade be removed, j
Cuba and Brazil will strain every nerve, and i
assisted by the secret aid of British capital, <i
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7
L- \.
will multiply their imports of negroes, and
taking new lands into cultivation, will soon
supply the deficit produced by the abandon¬
ment of the British plantations ; and thus the
Colonists, brought low by the measures of the
mother country, will receive the final blow from
their own apathy or misdirected efforts.
To withdraw the squadron all parties
agree, would cause an immediate and great in¬
crease in the amount of Slave Trade ; but the
advocates of this course contend, that such in¬
crease would continue but for a short time; that an unlimited Slave Trade must work its
own cure and discontinuance, and eventually that it must lead to the extirpation of Slavery itself.
These ends could be only produced by one
tremendous event, which would lay postrate the Country in which it occurred, and which
must for ages cease to be civilized or producing. That event would be the insurrection of the
Negro population, composed in a great measure
of savage tribes recently imported, and amongst whom no tincture of civilization could have
spread. The massacre of the whites would be
succeeded by anarchy and desolation. But it
is not thus that the extirpation of Slavery can
be anticipated, at least by those who require the removal of the squadron for the sake of
cheaper sugar and increased exports to Brazil;
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even they would scarcely sacrifice so much to
advantages they pyppptp<1_to pprish almost be-
forethey could be gathered. But in consider¬
ing the subject solely with a view to interest,
the peculiar state of Brazil is a very important feature to be well and maturely weighed, before
substantial interest^ in possession,_the_ secure_ continuance of which is in_our own hands, be
thrown away. Let us beware lest we sacrifice
solid and if we choose, enduring benefits for
visionary theories and a delusive shadow.
There can be no stability in a country with¬
out a people, and such is the condition of Brazil;
her labouring class, the foundation of all
strength, is composed of a distinct race torn from
a remote continent, which instead of a safeguard, forms a constant source of suspicion and alarm
to the white population. Besides the perils
arising from the overwhelming number of the
Negroes, tribes of Indians from within threaten
her with destruction, and on the south Rosas is
said to be meditating an inroad, against which no
resistance could be for a moment maintained.
Such is the condition of that country, the whites
so demoralized and destitute of vigour, so feeble
the government, so inoperative the laws, and so
imminent and various the dangers, that all Bri¬
tish authorities acquainted with its condition
and unprejudiced by interest would unite in
declaring a prolonged existence impossible, and
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6
\l. L:. Lm, 5r
that it is even now tottering to its fall: all
history, analogy, and reason, amply confirm
the opinion. Thus in a day Brazil may be laid with the
dust, but the interests which_will have been
sacrificed^are not to be retrieved. Africa will
^""S T% have been thrown back a hundred years by the
crimes of two or three, and nothing short of
madness would again invest capital to reclaim, and restore the cultivation of the West Indian
Colonies. These calamities will go down to
posterity in eternal connexion with the dis¬
grace of England, who deliberately intending to sacrifice her principles to herjnterest, blun-
dered and destroyed both. That the Slave Trade
can work its own cure, except through the
massacre of the white population by the Slaves, carries with it its own refutation, if fairly con¬
sidered ; that it can by any other means lead
to the extirpation of Slavery is equally con¬
trary to common sense and to experience. The only Slave Trade that now exists is
that directed to the Spanish Islands in the
West Indies, and to Brazil. The Slave popu¬ lation in these quarters numbers only ten or
twelve per cent, of females, and the mortality is calculated at five per cent.; it must there¬
fore follow that unless largely recruited by annual importation, the population must ra¬
pidly decrease. Estimating the Slaves in these
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countries in round numbers at three millions,
there would be an annual loss of 150,000, and
putting the births even so high as 30,000, a
deficit of 120,000 remains to be supplied by the
Slave Trade.
If this supply be stopped, population must
annually decrease until the lapse of time shall
have gradually equalized the sexes ; after which
the amount of population will depend on
natural laws.
This calculation is supported by the num¬
bers of Slaves intorduced into Cuba and Brazil ^Pr~
before any extraordinary stimulus had been
given to the traffic or to Slave labour, and while
the powers under treaty were so inadequate as
to render every effort on the part of England of necessity futile. It is on all hands admitted,
that the Treaty of 1835 for the first time ren¬
dered any check on the Spanish Slave Trade
possible: for the fifteen previous years the
number of Slaves imported into Cuba is esti¬
mated at 39,000 per annum, the Slave popu¬ lation being upwards of 600,000.
So in Brazils where the Slaves were
reckoned at above 2,000,000, so long as the abuse
of the Portuguese Treaty continued to cover
that Slave Trade with complete security, it was
reckoned by the British authorities in the
country to amount annually to more than
90,000.
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8
Ifjbhe Slave Trade should be thrown opgn and all restrictions removed (except perhaps
regulations which would be mere waste paper),
^lo^y^tipiLA'L our Colonies jnust cease—and
then conceive the stimulus given to the Slave
Trade as regards these countries alone. In Cuba
there is a large amount of virgin soil, in Brazil
the extent is unlimited ; every corner of Africa
would be ravaged to furnish labour, and these
countries alone would probably import double
the_numbers formerly landed.
But when England withdraws from the
conflict, and treats this hateful pursuit as a
matter to be recognized and regulated by formal
conventions, her own subjects alone withheld
from direct engagement in the traffic, will still
jseek to share its profits through foreign^chan- nels. Thus the terrible consequences of her
backsliding will not be confined to the increase
of Spanish and Brazilian Slave Trade,* but
many a State now unstained by the crime will
be tempted to share in its advantages, and
finding it no longer a "malum prohibitum,"
* The consequences of this terrible example to the world may extend to regions where the crime has been hitherto unknown. If the enormous strides of civilization should be thus accompanied by a retrograde morality, increasing Slave Trade may very possibly be driven for victims to new quarters; thus parts of Asia and the Islands in the Pacific may hereafter have reason to join with Africa in cursing the name of England, to whose betrayal of the cause of .mankind they would justly attribute their sufferings.
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9
will be only too likely to declare it not a " malum in se."
Imagine now the Slave Trade counting from
3, to 400,000 victims a year, and let us enquire how it is making progress towards its own cure ;
and by what steps the extinction of Slavery itself
is approaching. Some believe that the former result will
be attained the moment the markets across the
Atlantic are glutted, which they declare will be
the case very shortly after the trade has been " left to itself;" we might as well pretend that if
Smithfield market were-overstocked to-morrow,
thenceforward the Metropolis would cease to
require sheep and oxen. The cases are pre¬
cisely parallel, as surely as a fresh demand
would speedily arise for more cattle, so cer¬
tainly would the rapid absorption of the surplus
negroes cause a new demand; in each a tempo¬
rary excess is wholly incapable of furnishing a
permanent supply. Even Dr. Cliffe, whose object was to prove
that the Slave Trade ought to be left to itself, and who would omit nothing likely to reconcile
the people of England to this course, let out a
fact which utterly destroys such a delusion.
After stating that 4 females only are now
carried to 100 males in Brazilian slave ships, he distinctly admits that' the disproportion
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10
would not be lessened,* if all restriction were
removed. These_jacts prove the absurdity of
believing that the Slave Trade can work itsjyvyn termination.
As regards Slavery, nothing can be more
firmly established than that by far the cheapest form of labour (at least as applied to the culti¬
vation of sugar,) is that supplied by the Slave
Trade, which carries only the bone and sinew
of labour in the shape of men, and works them
off, constantly replacing them by fresh impor¬ tations ; thus it is while the repressive measures
cause a difference of 1000 per cent betAveen
Africa and Brazil! The Slave bought for £3
brings £80 at Rio de Janeiro, nor is it possible to believe that the advantage of the Planter
will be diminished.t if the removal of the
squadron should lower the price to £30 in the
Brazilian market.
But some persons are sanguine enough to
look for the suppression of the traffic and
emancipation of the Slaves in Brazil, from an
Anti-slavery party in that Empire itself!—
Brazil has no parent state to fall back upon for
protection, her Slaves are for the most part not
bred on the soil, but savages recently imported,
* "Vide Sugar and Coffee Planting Eeport Question, 1555.
f The price in Africa would probably rise from the increased
demand, to £8, or perhaps £10.
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11
and there can be therefore no medium at present
between Negro Slavery and Negro Domination.
Thus the yoke is rivetted by the instinct of
self-preservation itself, and the idea of emanci¬
pation is in the mind of every white man,
indissolubly bound up with the dread of all that
is terrible in suffering, and hideous in excess.
But setting aside these facts which distin¬
guish the case of Brazil, let us ask if experience in other quarters affords the slightest ground for
such hopes. The Colonists of Great Britain,
Avhen would they have abolished Slave Trade or
liberated their Slaves had the determination of
these questions been left to themselves Were
they carried with the consent of even a small
portion of the West India body? Was it
not on the contrary united as one man in the
most strenuous resistance to these measures
even to the last moment? Has the result
shown the Planters were mistaken in opposing them as injurious to their pecuniary interests;
or to aid those arguments which failed to con-
vince them, can we now point to the example J
of advantages having accrued to our unfortunate /
West Indian proprietors, and so tempt thej Brazilian planters to the same great measures off justice through motives of interest.
'
Can the most sanguine emancipationist in
the American Union flatter himself that such a
spirit is growing up in the Southern States.
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12
Congress long since abolished the Slave Trade, it may hereafter decree and enforce the enfran¬ chisement of the Slaves; or the Slaves may achieve their own freedom; or in the course of the next century the yoke may gradually and
insensibly disappear, and the Negroes become a free peasantry. Either of these solutions is
" possible, but that the Slaves should in the
present state of feeling and circumstances be set free by the voluntary act of their masters, can only arise from a miraculous change of
every feeling and sentiment they now entertain.
The Slave Trade can never be extirpated from any quarter in which it has once taken
root, except by a force external to such a
country: In this sense the United States in
Congress were a force external to those inter¬
ested in its continuance; and thusEngland, whose
interest in the crime was too indirect to blind her moral sense, put down the Slave Trade and
ultimately Slavery. Brazil can never shake off
the stigma by any internal effort; Jbut Jjusat Britain is by the act of Brazil herself, armed
\ with complete power to enforce its repression. She has bound herself to England to abolish
the traffick, and does not attempt to fulfil the
pledge; in the same compact she agrees that
her subjects engaged in it " shall be deemed and
treated as Pirates" by the contracting parties.
j Great Britain is then the external force by
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13
which the Slave Trade of Brazil must be sup¬
pressed, and she bears to it a relative position similar to that which she bore to the Slave
Trade of her own Colonies, or the United
States in Congress to the Slave States.
The crime never has been and never can
be suppressed unless by force. Force has per¬
fectly succeeded in England, in the United
States, and in various other countries, and will
as certainly succeed elsewhere when properly
applied. Nothing is more absurd than to call
the Slave Trade smuggling, and then to declare
because it is smuggling that it never can be put down! If it could be properly compared to
smuggling at all, it would be where it is prohi¬
bited, and not where it is encouraged; and
where prohibited, it is extinct. But the effect
of applying this gentle term to a pursuit which
the civilized world has denounced with one
voice, is to divert the public mind from its true
character, and so pave the way to its recog¬ nition, as an innocent and even laudable com¬
merce, to be perpetuated and extended under
the auspices of Free Trade principles. Let us at least call it by its right name,
a monstrous crime; and in the words of the
Congress of Vienna " repugnant to the prin¬
ciples of humanity and universal morality," " a scourge that desolates Africa and afflicts j
mg^mm
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14
humanity," and for the suppression of which " the public voice in all civilized countries calls
aloud." Has the boasted progress of the last
thirty years led us to a higher morality, a clearer
perception of right and wrong, or of those first
principles from whence the rights of human
nature take their source, if we are at this time
of day to term it smuggling; no longer a crime
to be prohibited, but a commerce to be recog¬ nised and left to itself. But if England is really
prepared for this unhallowed course, let her at
least scorn the hypocritical pretext, that she
throws the Slave Trade open because she be¬
lieves it will work its own cure, and extirpate
Slavery. The world well knows that her noble
objects would be cheaper sugar and increased
exports to Brazil, and how are these to be
reconciled with the belief that a speedy insur¬
rection of the Negroes (by which alone such
results could be accomplished) would utterly
destroy Brazil, both as a consumer and a
producer!
Although the number of those who advo¬
cate this policy may be considerable, we shall
find it to consist of a variety of parties, who
from different, opposite, and taken severally, the
most fallacious reasonings unite on this single
point alone. Conclusions thus arrived at will
make no impression on the good sense of the
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15
country, and a body, however numerous, com¬
posed of elements so discordant can carry but
little authority.
Probably each opinion contains amongst its supporters persons directly interested in the
Slave Trade, who pull the strings, and stimulate
the exertions of their unsuspecting friends, in
order to retrieve past losses, or reap future
profits from " leaving the Slave Trade to itself."
For though the fact of the employment of
British capital in this crime is undoubted, the
guilty parties are completely unknown; great is the temptation, the risk of detection very
small, and it is certain that the present appa¬ rent wavering of the public mind would be
improved by them to the utmost. Persons
directly interested would of course be com¬
paratively few in number, but their secret
motives would give an intensity to their exer¬
tions, and from their intimate knowledge of the
subject they would exercise an immense influ¬
ence over those who they had joined only to mislead for their own purposes.
An example of the excessive proneness to
believe blindly any statements confirmatory of
foregone conclusions on this question, is shown
by the eager reception of Dr. Cliffe's evidence
by the Committee of the House of Commons,
although that witness had an evident interest
in lowering the price of slaves, for he avowed
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1G
his desire to " increase his store" of Negroes,
by adding 500 to the 200 he already possesses, and though a citizen of the United States,
(by whose law Slave Trade is Piracy,) he de¬
clared that he had been engaged in the crime.
In considering the opinions of those who
have united to require England to reverse her
policy against the Slave Trade, the party repre¬ sented by the Morning Chronicle must not be
overlooked, who proclaim the Slave Trade to
be a " malum prohibitum," rather than a " ma¬
lum in se;" who would persuade us that Chris¬
tian principles warrant Slave Trade and Slavery; who vindicate the citizen of the United States
guilty of Slave Trading, by urging the state of
public opinion in Brazil; and who quote with
glowing ajyprobation those who condemn as
uncharitable the terms crime and criminal as
applied to Slave Trade and the Slave Trader!
With the country at large such perni¬ cious fallacies require no refutation, but there
is reason to fear that they are much more
general than might at first sight be believed; for when thus formally advocated by a leading *
Morning Journal, which must to some extent
follow, and to some extent guide, public
* Tt is a remarkable fact, that this journal has been selected as the medium through which the proceedings of the Committee of the House of Commons on the Slave Trade have been defended and justified.
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17
opinion, we may be assured that such doctrines
find favour with a considerable number whose
suffrages are for unrestricted Slave Trade.
Unfortunately the most prominent of the
Free Trade party have joined in this movement,
but is it possible that they mean to include
human beings in their category of objects of
commerce If Free Trade should declare that
whatever is to be sold, it is innocent to buy,
might not a Slave Trade be established upon the very soil of England herself? Free Trade
if universally adopted and extended over the
whole world, would be undoubtedly a bond of
peace; it proclaims its basis to be the equal
rights of mankind, and its development is to go hand in hand with the interests of freedom and
justice, to the first elements of which the traffic
•in mankind is abhorrent. The only part of the
Free Trade system that can possibly be thought even indirectly to sanction the continuance of
the Slave Trade, is that which deprecates the
interference of one State with another; but
a fair consideration of the principles of Free
Trade prove this to be an exceptional case, and demand that the vital parts shall not be
sacrificed to one of the more remote conse¬
quences.
Considering the Slave Trade as a com¬
merce, to the subjects of Great Britain it will
always be prohibited, and therefore Free Trade
D
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18
can never be extended to it. But the Slave
Trade is not properly a commerce, but a crime.
The presence of men habitually committing these enormities in armed vessels on the high seas is utterly incompatible with the security of merchant ships; and even if the traffic were
thrown open, Slave ships must still be armed
against attempts at insurrection on board.
Instead then of advocating a measure
which would cause the immense increase of such
vessels, Free Trade should insist on the duty of
purging the great highway of nations of a traffic
which involves the peaceful intercourse of
mankind in continual peril. The whole civi¬
lized world has condemned the crime, Spain and Brazil alone still pursue it, each being
pledged to England to put it down, and each
having invested her with the right to demand
and enforce its suppression. To abandon this
right would be to inflict incalculable injury on
the progress of civilization and on public mora¬
lity. Is it for Free Trade to demand the per¬
petual and unrestricted rage of this fearful
scourge Should it not rather urge its imme¬
diate extirpation, and endeavour to unite all
nations in freeing commerce from the stigma of
such fellowship. Free Trade professes to teach
that nation should trade with nation on perfect terms of equality, and fair dealing, thus to
spread peace and brotherhood over the whole
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19
earth, and to knit the human race in perpetual
amity, founded on the endless succession of
benefits springing from their unrestricted in¬
tercourse. But what can be so diametrically
opposed to these principles as the Slave Trade,
which teaches man to look on his brother as an
object of traffic, to be seized by force, or en¬
trapped by fraud—to be torn from his native
soil and every tie that nature holds dear, and to
be worked to death in a remote quarter of the
globe, for the benefit of strangers Can the Free Traders hope for public con¬
fidence if they obstinately maintain such a
fearful inconsistency? Or if their doctrines
should warrant the desolation of a whole con¬
tinent that the British manufacturers may de¬
rive a temporary profit, it behoves the people of England to consider whether they will be
blindly led away by a name, which, thus per¬
verted, threatens the general interest with
serious injury, and the national honour with
a perpetual stain.
Nor would the horrors of unlimited Slave
Trade be less repugnant to the objects of those
who demand the withdrawal of the squadron on the principles of universal peace, and who
repudiate the use of force under every possible
circumstance, as contrary to Religion. For
though war may be justly considered in the
abstract, as equally foolish and sinful, reasonable
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I
20
men cannot admit that this opinion involves
the passive endurance of every crime by the
powers that be.
The Gospel, while it bids us if struck on
the right cheek, to offer the left also, by no
means commands us to abandon our brother to
wrong and violence; to be consistent, such advo¬
cates for universal peace must declare that
measures essential to the public defence are
sinful in a government; they must condemn the
office of magistrate, and the functions of police, and demand that burglars and murderers be
left only to the sting of their own conscience.
If it were a case involving some advantage which affected only herself, it might be right for England to submit to the injustice and the
wrong; but the only treaties she has ever
suffered to be broken are those for the sup¬
pression of the Slave Trade, and the breach of
these has inflicted unutterable sufferings on
millions of human beings. Possessing the most
unquestionable right to enforce their fulfilment,
she is bound to put an end to this iniquity by
every moral obligation that demands the sup¬
pression of crime on her own shores. Conceive
the Slave Trade restored by the act of the first
of civilized nations, a title that belongs to
England principally from her prominence in
this great cause! Imagine all her success aban¬
doned, all her steps retraced; Africa a hell on
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21
earth, one frightful scene of pillage, rapine, and
murder, all from the misapplication o the
principle of universal peace! Had the good Samaritan arrived sooner on
the scene of violence, would he (had he been a
Christian) have been bound to refrain from all
active interference, and while each blow might be fatal, was he to limit his efforts to pious
exhortations and moral precepts, and prepare his balsams in case the thieves might still leave
life in their victim? But suppose they had
been fellow travellers, and the good Samaritan
had promised to succour and defend him, could
he without sin before God and just disgrace in
the eyes of men have thus deserted him! This
is the position of England towards Africa—may she be saved from such notions of Christian duty!
But the most serious blow which has been
struck at the Suppression of the Slave Trade
has come from those who as friends and even as
champions have united in the clamour against the use of force for the purpose.
The Anti-slavery Society are actively en¬
gaged in condemning every effort which can by
possibility lead to success, and declare that it is
by moral influences alone the monster can be
overcome; by good example, gentle measures,
by Christianizing and Civilizing Africa, but
mainly by proving that free labour is more pro¬ fitable than that of the Slave. Thus they
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22
seriously believe Africa may be made too good, and Brazil too worldly wise to continue to trade
in or to hold Slaves! It is true Brazil is already Christian, but so was Spain, so was Portugal, so were the Colonies of England, and in all of
these Christianity was powerless against self-
interest.*
It was the Christian and not the Savage who commenced the Slave Trade, and who still
maintains it. Can any thing then be so vision¬
ary as the exj)ectation, that in a vast continent
where Christianity, on a few isolated spots alone, has got the slightest footing, whose civilization
is in general Mahometan and not Christian,
Christianity within any assignable period can
be so universally embraced, so firmly established, and so purely followed, as to put an end to a
crime which no civilized State, after having been Christian for centuries, was able to
resist when the temptation arose.
Nor is the prospect of converting Brazil
through her interest less absurd; have the ne¬
cessary proofs made the slightest progress, is
there the smallest indication which affords the
faintest reasonable hope of such a consum-
* If the Slave Trade has been abolished in the Colonies of England, France, Holland, and various other nations, it was because the mother countries were interested in a remote degree, their moral and religious sense was awakened, and the Colonies were compelled to acquiesce in every instance against their vehe¬ ment remonstrances.
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23
mation Does not the ruin of our own Colonies
stare such dreamers in the face and laugh them to scorn. It is proved as clear as the sun
at noon that the competition of unprotected Free labour, against Slavery assisted by Slave
Trade, is only another name for despair. Or have Ave the more reason to expect that
the people of Brazil will form the sole bright
exception, and make that great sacrifice to
justice and morality which no community simi¬
larly circumstanced has ever yet had the virtue
to make On the contrary, we know that such
an effort is impossible, for the Brazilians are far
from remarkable for high principle as a nation,
and we knoAV besides that the obstacles to such
JL righteous course are far greater in this case
than in any other that has ever existed.
But to return to Africa; good example and
gentle measures are as likely to divert the tiger from his prey as to influence men steeped in
the crimes which are comprehended in Slave
Trade, tempted as they are by untold profits,
profits only to be diminished by the vast
increase of victims. If the Slave Trade is let
loose, rapine and desolation are spread over the
land, all social bonds are torn asunder, and
Africa and her people must resemble wild
beasts in a jungle. Imagine this scourge raging with full licence, and then say whether even
the first traces of Christianity and civilization
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24
which we uoav Avitness springing up on a few
spots of the coast can be maintained: that
these influences should prevail in such a contest
and extend themselves over this darkened and
desolated continent, it is absurd to believe ; all
the facts prove that the only possibility of main¬
taining the ground already gained—the only
prospect of extending these great blessings to
mankind, solely and distinctly depend, not on
any gentle measures, but on the resolute and
uncompromising application of force to the
prevention of this greatest of crimes.
The Slave Trade is a Hydra, against which
no weapon can be thrown away—no assistance
spared; lawful commerce and missionary labour
are of the greatest Aralue, but all must combine
and join heart and hand in the fight. By force
the victory must be Avon—by Christianity and
Civilization it must be secured. The union of
moral influences, when they havTe the field of
action cleared for them, will teach Africa (what
England should have learned ore this,) that the
labour of her sons may be far most profitably
employed on their own shores, supremely gifted as they are by Providence ; and that to transport them by tens of thousands as beasts of burden
to a distant land for the benefit of strangers, is a folly, as it is a crime, unparalleled.
Let then the people of England distinctly
knoAv that the Slave Trade can be suppressed
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25
only by force ; let them reflect on the inevitable
results of AvithdraAving the Squadron, and
few will have the hardihood to join in the cry " leave it to itself." Let them only examine
those absurd assertions, prompted by interested
parties, and blindly adopted by many Avho
should knoAV better, that the Squadron has
never even checked the Traffic; that failure
must necessarily attend all its efforts, because
there is some mysterious and inherent energy in the pursuit Avhich defies control; that even
if it could be maintained only at a dead loss
and in the face of severe punishment, still
the spirit of gambling Avhich it excites would
ensure its continuance! Such statements as
these have been repeated Avith so much clamor
and perseverance, that the country was at
one time almost persuaded of their truth; but
Avhat has already been done with a very small
force, proves that complete suppression may be effected if the only principles on which
a Naval force can be employed Avith success are
adopted and steadily acted on.
The fact of the Squadron having produced a gradual and rapid decrease of the Traffic
may be considered as most satisfactorily esta¬
blished, on what Ave must suppose the reluctant
testimony of one Avho advocates its withdrawal
and the substitution of gentler measures; though what his particular remedy may be, he has
E
'
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26
I j shrouded in mystery. Mr. Bandinel, in his
elaborate work, published in 1842, shows the
rapid diminution of the Slave Trade for several
successive years ; that of the Spanish Islands he
\ expressly contributes to the Treaty with Spain J of 1835 by Avhich the right of seizure, before
restricted to laden slave ships, was extended to
all vessels equipped for the trade; but as he
does not specify the cause of the yet more sur¬
prising and rapid decrease of the Brazil Slave
Trade, (Avhich cause had also the effect of pre¬
venting the restoration of that of Spain to its
former amount,) it is necessary to detail it here.
It is true that the equipment articles of
the Spanish Treaty of 1835 struck a heavy blow
at the Traffic; but the slave dealers had, in
order to evade it, universally adopted vessels
really, or nominally Portuguese, in which the
Slave Trade of Cuba would have soon flourished
as before, because the Treaty AArith Portugal, like the old one with Spain, alloAved the seizure
of vessels only Avhen Slaves were on board, and
prohibited that of equipped vessels.
But even this restricted right of seizure
under the Treaty Avith Portugal existed only North of the Equator, and such was its effect
on the Spanish Slave Trade, which was carried
on almost entirely in North Latitude.
In South Latitude the same Treaty with
Portugal strictly prohibited the slightest inter-
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27
ference with Slave Vessels, though laden to the
water's edge Avith Slaves, nor could any possible
circumstance justify an exception from this
most stringent rule.
Almost all the Coast of Brazil lays in South
Latitude, and extends to more than 1800 miles
South of the Equator; nearly every Slave Avas
embarked from the parts of Africa laying also
in South Latitude, and all were carried in
Portuguese vessels. It is therefore clear as the
sun at noon, that so long as the Portuguese
Treaty remained in force the Slave Trade of
Brazil was wholly out of the reach of British
cruizers ; its amount, by the concurrent testi¬
mony of all the British authorities in the em¬
pire, had been for many years above 90,000
per annum.
Let these facts confute those Avho assert
we have struggled in Arain for thirty or forty
years ; the struggle only began in 1839, Avhen
Her Majesty commanded her cruizers to cap¬ ture all Portuguese slave ships whether laden
or equipped, and whether met with in North
latitude or in South, a course Avhich the legis¬
lature afterwards sanctioned by empowering the Vice Admiralty Courts to condemn such
vessels. At this time the Slave Trade to Brazil
formed more than three-fourths of the Avhole
traffic; we shall see that this measure in tAVO
short years cut down the imports of Brazil
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28
from 94,000 to 14,000! or to one-sixth of its
former amount.
Having supplied an important omission as
to the causes Avhich enabled the Squadron to
produce such results, Mr. Bandinel's Avork will
noAV shoAV the facts :—of Cuba, he says—
" In 1821, on the imperfect Treaty coming into
operation, a momentary check took place in the
importation,* " But the slave traders contrived to evade the
operation of that compact; and the number of Slaves
imported for the next fifteen years Avas still nearly 40,000 a year.*
" But ever since the treaty of 1835 came into
operation, the diminution of Slaves imported has been
marked and gradual, and is become more striking
every year. "
By a particular and detailed report from Her
Majesty's Commissioners at the Havana, for the year 1840, it appears that although in Cuba new sugar
plantations are yearly laid clown for cultivation, and
although the sugar trade of Cuba has increased so
much that more sugar is exported from that island
than would supply the whole demand of Great Britain, still the number of Slaves imported into Cuba is
yearly and strikingly decreasing. " In 1838, the number of Slaves imported had
decreased to 28,000. " In 1839, the number imported was only 25,000;
* See Report from the Havana Commissioners in Papers pre- *ented to Parliament.
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29
and in 1840, the number had further diminished to
14,470, which were thus divided : —
" To the Havana 10,104 Matanzas - - 1,650 St. Jago - - 500
Smaller Ports - 2,200
14,479
" So that the number of Slaves imported into Cuba
in 1840 was only one half the number imported in 1838,
and only about one-third the number imported before the Treaty of 1835 came into operation. ^
BRAZIL.
" In Brazil the recent diminution in the impor¬ tation of Slaves appears to be still more striking than
in Cuba. "
By returns from the British functionaries in
Brazil, it appears that in 1838 the importation of
Slaves into Rio de Janeiro and the immediate neigh¬ bourhood was reported to have been 47,000.
" It is estimated that the number of Slaves im¬
ported at Pernambuco, Bahia, Para, and other places
along the coast, equals in the whole the number of
Slaves imported into the capital and its neighbour¬ hood ; so that the total of Slaves supposed to be im¬
ported into Brazil in 1838 amounted to 94,000. " In 1839, according to the same authority,
28,000 Slaves only were imported into Rio de Janeiro.
Following up the same calculation as before for the
out-ports, the whole amount of Slaves imported into
Brazil in 1839 may be estimated at 56,000.
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80
" But in the year 1840, by accounts from the same quarter, it appears that only 7122 were im¬
ported into Rio ; and the diminution at the out-ports Avas even still more marked ; for at Para., during the last half-year of 1840, not one Slave Avas imported, So that taking for the out-ports the same importation as for the capital, too much will probably be taken ; and yet, upon this calculation, only 14,244 Slaves
were imported into Brazil during the year 1840 ; *so that in 1839 the importation of Slaves had diminished
vpwards of one-third since the preceding year, and in
1840 the number imported was only rather more than
one-fourth part of those imported in 1839, and not one- sixth of the number imported in 1838.
" The diminution in the importation of Slaves does
not, however, arise from a slackening in the demand
for them, for in Port Rico a newly-imported negro used to sell for 200 dollars; the price now is 450
dollars. In Cuba such negros sold in 1821 for 100
dollars : the price now varies from 425 to 480 dollars.
In Brazil a newly-imported negro used to sell for 100
milreis ; the price now is 400 milreis."
The depression of the Slave Trade conti¬
nued throughout the years 1841, 42, 43, & 44 ; it has since partially revived in Brazil owing in a great measure to the Caffre war, which led
to the temporary removal of the Cruizers from
the east coast of Africa.
But the Committees are surely not fulfill¬
ing the trust committed to them, if they confine * We have taken the liberty of printing part of the extract
from Mr. Bandinel's work in italics.
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themselves to ascertaining Avhat every one
knoAvs, viz., that complete success has not been
attained, and thence jumping to the conclusion
that it is therefore unattainable. The Country has a right to expect a full enquiry into the
causes which cut doAvn the Slave Trade at one
period, and those again which caused its subse¬
quent partial revival. They are bound to as¬
certain Avhether the success may notbe brought to a perfect consummation, and whether the
failure has not arisen from causes Avhich are ~ i " '
capable of remedy.
The great reduction of the Slave Trade,
the increasing demand, and the quadrupled
prices continued to advance progressively from
the time specified by Mr. Bandinel until 1843,
and then Ave learn from Dr. Cliffe that the
price of a negro was more than eight-fold Avhat
it was prior to 1839! This result was produced /
by a Squadron of only eleven or tAvelve Vessels, |
acting generally on the principle of closely
watching the Slave Factories, and aided by the
destruction of some of these great central
depots. When Dr. Cliffe states* that in 1843, he
gave 850 milreis for " a child no bigger than a
dolly," he bears the most striking and conclusive
testimony to the effect of these root and branch
* Vide Sugar and Coffee Planting Eeport of Evidence Question 1490.
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32
measures, though he Avould fain persuade us
that it Avas OAving to " other causes" ; but Avhat
other causes he does not specify nor did the
Committee care to know. The main depots of
Brazilian Slave Trade, Ambriz and Cabenda, were destroyed in 1842, and hence the rise of
price so fatal to Dr. Cliffe's hopes of buying 500 more Slaves! but he, disinterested man!
assures us that the measures on the Coast of
Africa had nothing to do Avith it whatever, and he has actually persuaded the Committee
that the only efforts Avhich eArer produced even
the smallest reduction in the Slave Trade, Avere
those on the Coast of Brazil. He totally ig¬ nores the fact of these Factories having been
destroyed, and the Committee seem to have
been Avithout that specific knowledge of the
facts, which would have enabled them to refute
him from his oavii lips. Let the Committee only
enquire hoAV many Slave vessels Avere seized on
the Coast of Brazil in 1842 and 1843, and they will see hoAV utterly such captures Avere inade¬
quate to produce the effects attributed to them.
Let them turn to Africa and they will see the
true cause, in a ten-fold number of captures, and
in the up-rooting of the Slave Factories; un¬
happily to be very shortly re-established, OAving
to the terms in which the Queen's advocate's
opinion was referred to in Lord Aberdeen's let¬
ter, producing a misconstruction shared alike by
the Slave Dealers and by Her Majesty's Officers.
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33
It has only been discovered very recently
that the Queen's AdArocate's opinion Avas en¬
tirely misinterpreted, and thus for more than
six years Her Majesty's Officers have been pre¬ vented from adopting these most effectual
measures, by a blunder.
The subject Avas surely worthy of the \
consideration of Mr. Hutt's Committee, but it I
is singular that Avhen Officers were under ex¬
amination, Avho had directed these transactions,
and Avho could from personal experience have
given the fullest information respecting such
measures and their consequences, the matter
was carefully avoided; subsequently however
the speculative opinions of several persons who
had no practical knowledge on the subject were
recorded as evidence condemnatory of the de¬
struction of Slave Factories : the result is what
might be expected; the printed evidence repre¬ sents as the inevitable consequences of such
measures, a series of evils no one of Avhich did
ever in any one case, actually result from them. / The mortality, the disorganization and de¬
moralization of Her Majesty's ships, the change of locality of Slave Trade, the driving away of
legal Traffic, &c. &c, never did in any single instance arise from the destruction of Slave
Factories, though Mr. Hutt's Committee in its
blind eagerness to support its foregone conclu¬
sions, places these erroneous speculations in its
F
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34
reports, in place of the real facts Avhich were
fully Avithin its reach.
Information has just arrived of the de¬
struction of the Gallinas Slave Factories by Sir Charles Hotham. Ask that officer the
extent of those depots, all established on the
security inspired by Lord Aberdeen's letter, and all maintained at a vast expense and Avith-
out any adequate return, in the daily expec¬ tation of a reversal of the policy of England
(encouraged by the press and the reports of
Mr. Hutt's Committee) and of which the Act of 1846 was deemed the forerunner. Ask
how many Slave vessels have escaped Avhile
these enormous establishments have been kept up at great cost; look to the Slave Trade of
Cuba, of Avhich this place has been the main
depot—for the last four years the annual average
importation has been from every quarter, only 1500 Slaves But we are told no more Slaves have been landed in Cuba because there is no- demand Who then are the persons Avho have
maintained these vast establishments The
merchants of Havanah. Is it credible that they should thus waste their tens of thousands, if this were the case These statements refute them¬
selves, but no pretence is too absurd to per¬ suade a large body of Englishmen that the naval force Avhich has so long striven in this most arduous service has had no share in pro-
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35
ducing results of Avhich it has in truth been the
sole and exclusive cause. The system which ^
England laid down for herself Avhen she
commenced the struggle, and to Avhich she
long limited her efforts, Avas undoubtedly open to objection; during tAventy-four years she was I
continually baffled, for no sooner did one State
conclude an effectual treaty, than the Slave
Trade sheltered itself by adopting the Flag of
some other State which had not then entered
into a similar engagement. Noav, every civil¬
ized natTon~has invested England Avith the
poAvers she required, excepting only France and
the United States; but these countries strictly enforce their own laAVS, and no Slave vessel
dares to pollute the flag of either. An American
naval officer explains why no Slave vressels
have been captured by the United States
Squadron, in these terms :*—" Our national "
ships can detain or examine none but Ameri- " can vessels, or those Avhich they find sailing " under the American flag. But no Slave vessel " would display this flag. The laws of the " United States declare the Slave Trade if ex- " ercised by any of its citizens, punishable with "
death; the laws of Spain, Portugal, and " Brazil are believed to be different, or at "
least, if they threaten the same penalty, are
* Vide Journal of an American Cruizer, Page 177. Wiley and Putnam, 6, Waterloo Place.
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36
" certain never to inflict it. Consequently all " slavers Avill be careful to sail under the flag " of one of these latter nations, and thus avoid " the danger of losing life, as well as property, " in the event of capture."
The law of France against this crime is
also very severe and Avould be strictly enforced; if then Slave ships pretended to be French or
American it Avould only increase the risk ; nor
Avould it avail them Avhen met by a British
cruizer, for the reasons specified Avould eomdncc
the Commander that the flag was fraudulently assumed. Nothing is therefore now to be gained
by the use of false colours, and the Trade is
uniAcrsally carried on either under the Spanish or Brazilian flags, or in piratical vessels desti¬
tute of any national character Avhatever.
But though it might be unAvisc if the
struggle Avere commencing, to adopt the same
course Avith the prospect of prolonged and re¬
peated disajspointments, until the flag of all
nations alike should deny protection to the 1
crime—it Avould be madness AArhen Ave at length have obtained all the poAvers Ave desired, Avhen
no loop-hole or subterfuge remains to the Slave
V Trader, if Ave Avere to abandon the field. Let
England vigorously exercise the pow^rs__she iioav possesses, let her enforce fidelityto their
yet unfuMled^engagcments on the ]jart__of
Spain and Brazil, and no longer limiting herself
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37
to measures afloat, let her also act Avith energy and decision on the shores of Africa for the
benefit of the natives at large, and success must
speedily croAvn her efforts. '
The tremendous consequences of a Avrong
conclusion, the question at issue being Avhether
a sacred duty involving the fate of millions be
abandoned or fulfilled, demand that every indi¬
vidual shall form his judgment, not on the hear¬
say statements of prejudice or interest, but by
thinking and enquiring for himself. Public
opinion must decide the question and if the
country should betray the cause, heavy will be
the resposibility of those Avhose credulity has
made them Avilling dupes, and by Avhose blind¬
ness and indifference the train of error has
swelled into "public opinion." A feAV subjects are suggested to the consideration of those Avho
having trusted to the assertions of others, are
even noAV almost prepared to join the demand
to remove the Squadron, and to "leaA^e the Slave
Trade tx/itself." This opinion has been recom¬
mended either by the statements of Dr. Cliffe
and others as to the aggravation of suffering
during' the middle passage caused by the
Squadron ; or by the assertion that an unre¬
stricted Slave Trade Avill be humanely prosecu¬
ted from motives of interest; or thirdly, by the
belief that it might be regulated by Treaty Avith
Brazil and Spain, and rules and restrictions
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38
introduced by which the sufferings of the
j middle passage would be prevented. To refute Dr. Cliffe's assertions, it is only
necessary to read the Avhole of his evidence be¬
fore both the Slave Trade and the Sugar and
Coffee planting Committees, for no one can fail
to discover the most apparent proof of interested
motive and unbounded exaggeration; to specify instances of inconsistency and contradiction
Avould be to transcribe his whole evidence, of
which no syllable can be depended upon, except when he suffers a fact to escape him unaAvares, adverse to the cause he advocates.
Some instances of increased suffering have
certainly been caused by the repressive mea¬
sures, but Avould it not have been evident from
the very first, that when such measures began to
obstruct the traffic, sharp swift-sailing vessels
Avould be employed to escape capture, and that
when the Slave Trade Avas stopped, those Slaves
collected at the Factories Avould endure much
misery. But if the Slave Trade were thrown open,
will any one pretend that the present class of
Slave Vessels unfitted as they are for every other purpose, (except indeed piracy in the
general sense,) would be discarded, and Span¬ iards and Brazilians would from motives of
humanity set about building vessels for the
comfort of their victims? is there not the
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39
strongest reason to believe that every one of the y
evils noAv attributed to the Squadron, would be
extended to quadrupled numbers in the com¬
petition of unlimited Slave Trade
As for the humane influences of self inter¬
est, those who have been thus deluded are
bound to consult the records which show what
the traffic was in the hands of Englishmen prior to 1788, when it was first regulated. Those
regulations Avere carried by public opinion, the
public mind having been harrowed by detailed
proofs of the enormities and horrors which were
brought to light by the Parliamentary enquiries,'
Then, it was__egta^blished to the conviction of
every unprejudiced mind,tluvt_themiddle pass¬
age" Huringunlimited Slave_Trade vvas in the-
last degree horrible and inhuman, and that
motives of interest were poAverless to protect the negroes^ now, after the lapse of only sixty
years all this has been forgotten, and we are
acting exactly as if the question were for the
first time discussed! '
And if Ave folloAV our enquiry we shall find
that between 1788 and 1807 ample proofs were
recorded that a Slave Trade however strictly
regulated must still be a horrible pursuit, that in the habitual violation of every human right and every divine precept, habits of ruthless- violence and cruelty were engendered, and that such arc inseparable from Slave Trade even in its-
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40
mildest form. Yet, granting that the regulated Slave Trade of Great Britain, (so far as regulation could reach) was less horrible than it Avas when
unregulated, or than that of any other Nation
has ever been, we must bear in mind that
Brazil is avowedly and notoriously unable to
enforce her own laAvs; how then could she give effect to her Slave Trade regulations if such
were enrolled among her laws the slightest reflection will show that they could not be en¬
forced by the British authorities. The effect
therefore of throwing open the traffic would be
not to establish the state of things which existed
under the British flag after 1788, but to per¬
petuate all the horrors of an unrestricted Slave
Trade raging Avith fury and to an extent un¬
precedented. Those Avho Avould " leave the Slave Trade
to itself" on these grounds, have taken the
middle passage only into consideration, which
cannot be compared with the horrors inflicted
by the Slave Trade in its previous and subse-
i quent stages. What are the sufferings of three
\ weeks compared to the terrible and hope¬ less anguish of existence in a Brazilian
' sugar plantation; or of all ties of nature
trampled on in Africa, of Avhole countries
laid waste and left desolate, of populous toAvns
ravaged and burnt to ashes to supply the Slave
j ship
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wmmmmmmm
41
England must extend her vieAV to all the]
consequences of unlimited Slave Trade before!
she dares to condemn the negro race in tAVO
vast continents, to the perpetual endurance of1
such misery, on the pretext of mitigating the
sufferings of the middle passage. She knows \
that this terrible scourge must spend its chief j
fury and produce its most intense sufferings in |
Africa, but of this there is necessarily no earthly ]
record. The misery it inflicts on millions of
victims in Cuba and Brazil is however before
her on the most undoubted testimony, misery
inseparable from that terrible Slavery in AArhich
population is sustained, not by natural pro¬
creation, but by constant importations from a
foreign shore.
The folioAving facts are published in reports of evidence taken by the Committee of the
House of Commons, on sugar and coffee planting. Mr. Alexander Geddes states " I ascertained
that as many as 500 men, without a woman,
Avere worked on one estate and bloodhounds
lying close for the purpose of keeping them
together, I crossed the Island on Sunday, and I
saw the gangs universally at work, driven by the lash." "
My own conviction is that one half
of the persons held at this moment in Slavery in Cuba are held in that state in violation of the
existing Treaties between this Country and
Spain ; and I say so seeing the ages of those G
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42
people, knoAving Iioav soon the Slaves are
Avorked out and killed, for there is no repro¬ duction there."
Mr. Higgins speaking of the common prac¬ tice of hiring out SlavTes, says "the Avay the work
of the estate Avas done, Avas this: they worked
them during the whole of the day, and in the
evening they gave them about half an hour for
their supper, and then collected them all before
the Avorks, and told them off into tAvo gangs ; one of these gangs went back to Avork till twelve
o'clock, and afterAvards they Avere relieved by the other till six in the morning; and then
they were all sent out into the field again, so that
they got eighteen hours Avork out of every one of
them, men and Avomen. But then they Avork these
hired people to death; they were not likely to
treat them more leniently than their oavii Slaves."
To the question " a task gang is Avorked
harder of course, than the Slaves of the estate"
the ansAver is "If possible. It is just the case
between your own horse and a job horse which
you hire. If the planters find it pay, they will
work their oavii slaves to death. They admit it
to be a mere financial question." " Did you witness yourself the working of
the Slaves upon some estates? "
"I did: They Avere very hardly Avorked indeed; they were
dreadfully emaciated and thin, and so Aveary that I saAv them dropping asleep in all directions,
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43
On the Saratoga estate, where the administrator
was a very humane and intelligent man, and
deplored the Avork he was obliged to make these
people do, the machinery of the estate not being
equal to the crop, he was obliged to keep the
mill going all night: he attracted my attention
to the fact that towards six in the evening, and
towards twelve at night, when half the gang had
been always worked eighteen hours, the Avhip which you did not hear in the day-time, was
heard constantly going during those hours."
When asked if the severe labour he here
described was an exception to the general rule,
in consequence of the machinery not being
equal to the crop, the Avitness replies " No I am
certain it Avas not; I think on the contrary, the
administrator of the estate Avas a humane man, and that he Avould Avillingly haAre spared those
people the Avork if he could, and that he did
his best to alleviate their condition."
It is the general rule to Avork the Slaves
day and night during the sugar season, and he
thus describes the manner the Avhip is applied. " The driver has a long whip like a French
post-boy's Avhip, and he leans over the bar in
front, Avhen they are feeding the mill for in¬
stance ; The negroes run up Avith their bundles and throAV them doAvn into the mill. Some¬
times the mill is not fed and then this felloAV from his rail strike*, the first man that comes
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44
up with a bundle of canes. I said to him once ' that is the very man you ought not to strike,' but he told me it came to the same thing in
the end, and I have reason to believe it did.
Upon none of the estates did I see any of the men
formally punished. I suppose they would be
unwilling to let me see it. I only saw them
struck in that Avay. I remember a deformed
Avoman who was put to scrape the bits of cane
out of the channel for the juice, which got choked if the bits of cane were not removed. This woman gradually dropped to sleep, and
then the fellow Avould go to one side and strike and holloa at her, just as you would strike an
animal." " The people in the field are stimulated by
a driver or mayoral on horse back armed with SAvord and Avhip. They usually have dogs with them to prevent the slavres from skulking in the
large fields of cane ; they could never get them out without dogs."
" I think it is estimated that the black men are to the women about ten to one ; but this gentleman with whom I staid, told me that he had been employed on a plantation where there were four hundred and no women, and
that the results were too horrible to be men¬ tioned. I Avas myself on one cattle farm where the proprietor told me he never allowed any woman on his estate at all."
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45
" They appeared really so debased and
degraded that they did not seem to have the
energy to be sulky. I never had been in a
Slave country before, and I could not conceive
that human beings could be so debased." " I cannot express what a relief it was
after leaving Cuba to go to Nassau (an English
possession), where there is a very fine race of
negroes; to see the impudent looks of these
people, and to hear the saucy observations they made upon us Avas quite refreshing after wit¬
nessing the doAvncast and Aveary looks of the
Cuba Slave."
The Avitness states that the drivers go armed with a long cutlass and attended by a
couple of bloodhounds ; that the Slaves are
locked up at night in a large square stone
building when not at work, with dogs outside.
He says these dogs are very well trained, " I
observed to one of the Americans that his dogs looked rather heavy ; in order to show me how
good they were, he caught hold of a negro and
pretended to struggle with him, and the dogs would instantly have attacked him if the
American had not lifted up his hand to stop them ; they walked about among the negroes without pretending to see them as it were, just as a well behaved dog will Avalk by a cat; they never appear to fraternize with the negroes at all."
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r
46
The writer has only one of the seven re*
ports of the sugar and coffee planting com¬
mittee by him, from Avhich these extracts have
been made, but the facts are in every particular
entirely borne out by the evidence in the other
reports, of Lord HoAvard de Walden, Mr. Borth-
wick, and Dr. Norton Shaw, all eye witnesses
of the horrors they describe.
The only facts Avhich appear in the House
of Commons' Exports respecting Slavery in the
plantations of Brazil, are to be found in the
guarded statements of Dr. Cliffe,* who himself
a Slave holder in that country and advocating the cause of leaving the Slave Trade to itself,
yet lets out enough to show the horrors in¬
separable from this hateful system. He states
the disproportion betAveen the sexes in the
* The prospects of the negro race if the Slave Trade should be thrown open, may be imagined from other statements of Dr. Cliffe.
" We could grow it (Sugar) to any extent; within ten leagues of the part where I lived there is an extent of sixty leagues and ten or twelve in breath ; that is the finest land I ever saw in my life, and there is abundance of timber from twenty to twenty-five feet in diameter, such as I hardly ever saw in any part of the world. In this wood district the cane becomes ripe in ten or twelve months." This description would apply to thousands of square miles in Brazil now uncultivated ; he says, " since you have crushed the West India Islands, sugar plantations in Brazil have risen up to a great extent: and the government of Brazil are now making very extensive establishments on the river M between Bahai and J ; they have offered land to any body who will go and take it: they offered some to me."'
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47
sugar plantations as ten to one. When asked
whether slavery in general in Brazil is of a cruel
description, he replies " that would be difficult
to say. Among the poor people there are some
that are cruel, but I should say that those are
the fewest in number: people regard their
Slaves as you regard your horses; you never
treat them cruelly for the sake of treating them
cruelly, but you treat them Avell and the more
care you take of them and the more comfort¬
able you make them the more valuable they
are; if you treat them Avell and take care of
them they are not so licentious or such
thieves."—as what—why the general rule is
evidently the same debased and degraded Avretchedness as exists in Cuba. We recom¬
mend this testimony to the notice of the Soci¬
ety for preventing cruelty to animals, for if
Avorth any thing, it must be a pure delusion to
imagine that cab and omnibus horses, or cattle
in Smithfield market, can be cruelly treated, because it is for the interest of the owners to
treat them kindly. Conceive millions of des¬
pairing men Avith only this security But Dr. Cliffe Avhen pressed on subjects
that do not suit him, shelters himself under the
danger he says he would incur on his return to
Brazil, if he answered, but an able pamphlet I
|by Stephen Cave, Esq., (Murray,) supplies us | Avith a frightful picture of the horrors of a
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48
Brazilian plantation, by extracts from a Avork
published* at Rio de Janeiro. " Atrocious punishments are common
among us, nevertheless the false opinion is
propagated that we are the best of Slave Masters.
On the great sugar estates in the north of
Brazil, it would horrify any humane person to
Avitness the misery of the Slaves, whose bodies
covered with wounds sufficiently indicate the
treatment of AArhich they are victims ; in the
province of Piaupy, and Paranham a flogging for nine successive days is an ordinary punish¬ ment. The victim is fastened to a cart and there
receives two hundred or three hundred lashes ;
the mangled flesh is then cut, cayenne pepper and salt put into the wounds, on pretence that
this is needful to prevent corruption. The
punishment of the torniquet, band and neck-
stocks, thumbscreAVS, and many others are com¬
mon on our plantations; to expose a Slave for a
whole night, tied to a stake over an ants nest,
or on a cross to the sting of mosquitoes, as in
Rio Grande de Sul, are refinements of barbarity
peculiar to Brazil."
Have Dr. Cliffe's gross and palpable ex¬
aggerations as to the middle passage, so over?
powered the better judgment of this country that
it is prepared to sanction and encourage all the
Memoria analytica a cerca do commercio d'escravos e a cerca dos malles da escravidas domestica. Par F. L. C. B. Rio Janeiro.
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49
other abominations of the Slave Trade, and to
abandon the African race to perpetual and
hopeless Avretchedness To the slightest reflec¬
tion it is apparent that regulations for Brazilian
Slave ships must be utterly without effect; for
to confer benefit on the negroes, they must
greatly diminish the profits of the Slave dealer,
and to enforce such regulations (even if the in¬
clination existed) the power would be totally
wanting. But if it were possible to divest the
transit of all suffering, could any mitigating in¬
fluences be extended either to the ravages of
the Slave Trade in Africa, or to the bitterness
of existence in a Cuba or Brazilian sugar plant¬ ation on the contrary—to throw open the
Slave Trade Avould greatly aggravate the former
by causing an immense increase in the demand
for victims—and as regards the latter, the lower
the price of Slaves, the less would be the sole
frail security Avhich interest- supplies, against wanton cruelty. If now that a Slave costs sixty
pounds it answers to the OAvner to work him to
death in five or six years, (Aide Dr. Norton
Shaw's evidence) Avhat term of existence will suffice to repay the purchaser when the price is
but twenty pounds Eternal reproach would rest on England if
she threAV open this infernal traffic with these
consequences before her eyes. Through her
H
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50
\
influence and efforts, since 1815 the United
States, France, Holland, Denmark and Portugal have all abandoned the trade: Spain and Brazil
alone pursue the crime in violation of their
treaties Avith England, affording thus a complete
casus belli, and therefore justifying every mea¬
sure of coercioiL
In Africa the most effectual steps may be
taken, and the only course England can pursue -
with a due regard to her honor and her best
interests is to fulfil the duty she has pledged herself in the face of the world to perform— herein consists her only safety, for is there no
peril in destroying her prestige among nations,
in incurring the hatred of her ruined Colonies,
or in betraying millions to despair after having
voluntarily promised them succour and deliver¬
ance Those Colonics, first severely injured by
England's horror of Slave Trade and Slavery, are
they uoav to be'finally sacrificed because our
honesty and fidelity fail us; because increased
exports of Manchester cottons,"and loAV-priced
sugar, have become dearer to us than those sacred
principles which it was once the proudest boast
of England to uphold! The battle has still to be fought and the
result is scarcely doubtful, yet history Avill record
\o the astonishment of future ages that after such
i sacrifices, after a struggle of thirty Arears, with
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51
the large measure of success already won, and
with complete power and unquestioned right to
extirpate the traffic, the proposal should be
seriously entertained and powerfully supported to relinquish every effort to suppress the crime,
and to recognize henceforward a Free Trade
in Negroes.
FINIS.
CLIFFORD, PRINTER, PARADE, TUNBRIDGE WELLS.
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T
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